Thousands of “Special Interest Aliens” from Middle Eastern Countries Apprehended at Border

A special interest alien is a term used by the U.S. government to refer to people coming from countries that have conditions that favor or harbor terrorism, or pose a potential national security to the U.S.

NEW: Internal CBP data provided and confirmed by CBP sources reveals thousands of “special interest aliens” from mostly Middle Eastern countries have been apprehended by Border Patrol while crossing into U.S. illegally over last 2 years.

Syria: 538
Yemen: 139
Iran: 659
Iraq: 123
Afghanistan: 6,386
Lebanon: 164
Egypt: 3,153
Pakistan: 1,613
Mauritania: 15,594
Uzbekistan: 13,624
Turkey: 30,830

Date range 10/1/2021 – 10/4/2023

These are Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry only, this data does not include CBP encounters at ports of entry.

Border Patrol sources tell me they have extreme concerns about who is coming into the country because they have little to no way of vetting people from these special interest countries. I’m told unless they have committed a crime previously in the US, or they are on some sort of federal watchlist, there’s no way to know who they are because most of their home countries don’t share data/records with the US so there is nothing to match a name to when BP agents run fingerprints.

*A special interest alien is a term used by the U.S. government to refer to people coming from countries that have conditions that favor or harbor terrorism, or pose a potential national security to the U.S.

Thousands of ‘special interest aliens’ from Middle East countries stopped at southern border since 2021: data

There have also been over 1.5 million ‘gotaways’ under Biden administration

Thousands of “special interest aliens” from numerous countries, including the Middle East, have been arrested by Border Patrol agents while attempting to cross the U.S. southern border illegally over the last two years, according to internal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data leaked to Fox News.

“Special interest aliens” are people from countries identified by the U.S. government as having conditions that promote or protect terrorism or potentially pose some sort of national security threat to the U.S.

That data, confirmed by multiple CBP sources and reflects apprehensions between ports of entry between October 2021 and October 2023, shows that agents encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan in that period as well as 3,153 from Egypt, 659 from Iran and 538 from Syria.

Agents also encountered 13,624 from Uzbekistan, 30,830 from Turkey, 1,613 from Pakistan, 164 from Lebanon, 185 from Jordan, 139 from Yemen, 123 from Iraq and 15,594 from Mauritania. The data does not include information on how many of those migrants were removed or who were released into the U.S. with a court date.

Those numbers do not include encounters by CBP’s Office of Field Operations at ports of entry. It also does not include the numbers who have snuck past agents without detection — sources say there have been over 1.5 million such “gotaways” during the Biden administration.

Meanwhile, fiscal year 2023 broke the record for encounters on the FBI terror watch list with 151 people encountered at the southern border between ports of entry, higher than the previous six years combined.

By Adam Shaw, Bill Melugin, Griff Jenkins

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